Report

I-m sure you-ll all agree that one thing I cannot be accused of is over praising us !! I know that I normally have an uncanny knack of finding the negative in most of our performances this season but (without wanting to sound like Granny) the better side lost today!

Since our win on pens against Travaux back in October i-ve been struggling to see where this side is going this season, we-ve lost a lot of last seasons players & whilst we have on occassions turned it on we-ve on the whole looked a shadow of last years side. I-d pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this season was effectively over for us but now, even though I admit promotion is a big ask, I really feel we-re starting to get a side together to mount a decent run of results.

Reverting to our prefered 4-5-1 we completely dominated 1st half proceedings & despite a diabolical playing surface played some really good stuff. The back four were solid, Keiran & Hendo were unfazed by the oppositions rare attack whilst Robbie & Matt pushed up to support our own furrows forward. The midfield 5 all played exceptionally well; CP sat in the hole breaking down attacks & setting us on our way with sensible use of the ball whilst Siggsy & Si buzzed about ahead of him chasing down the ball & bringing Jamie & Baurer into the game regularly. The wide boys pace literally tore the home side to pieces and the consistently resorted to hoofing the ball out of play to halt the assaults on their goal.
In truth, we should have scored a couple in the opening 20 mins but a combination of the sticky pitch, good goalkeeping & bad luck kept us at bay!

Our corner count must have been up to half dozen & each one was being dangerously sent into the opposition box where with the likes of Mark, Hendo & Si lurking with intent you felt as though a goal couldn-t be far off. However in typical Punnetts fashion we gave away the momentum to -gift- a rather soft opener. If this side is to progress to fulfill our capabilities we need to start making sides earn their goals against us, we too often -put it on a plate- for our opposition by switching off momentarily. In truth I doubt Venton will be overly happy with his handling of a speculative 25 yarder but for me the crime was in not closing down their centre back as he lolloped forward from within his own half covering at least 30 yards unchallenged!!? With 3 in the middle & 2 strong, uncomprimising centre backs you-d like to think someone would kick him up in the air before he had the chance to play in their striker for a soft opener????

Ok, i-ll stop moaning, but promise me you-ll think about it eh?!?! 20 mins hard work needlessly undone!!!

We responded well, Siggsy is really starting to sound like a skipper - demanding more effort & encouraging a response, abley supported by the likes of Robbie, Hendo & CP it-s good to hear us becomming more vocal - shrinking violets rarely win anything!!!

Despite surrendering the lead our footbal was still a pleasure to watch, 1 example i remember clearly was a lovely 4 pass interchange between Matty, Siggsy & Jamie down the left side that cut through the St. Helens midfield & defence - who says 3 touch in training doesn-t help our play???

Cassy acted as a good focal point up top on his own, he-s probably dissappointed not to have got on the scoresheet but his link up play, dropping deep & picking passes was 1st class & showed real potential for the future, Baurer & Jamie also both had the bit between the teeth & their devastating pace & dribbling prowess had the home side constantly on the back foot. Our equaliser finally came as their over stretched defence failed to pick up the marauding Siggsy who burst into the box with real energy to rifle home. When we play this formation we need to get used to -having a pop- from distance as we won-t creat that many 6 yard box chances - everyone in our team is capable of hitting the ball so if YOU find yourself in a bit of space next week HAVE A GO, if we don-t shoot we won-t score!

Unfortunately we again failed to capitalise on the swing in momentum conceeding another sucker punch on the break! Robbie over commited himself high in our half allowing their nippy striker a clear run on goal. It was again slightly dissappointing not to see anyone put that extra effort in to cover their teamate - whilst i won-t point the finger by naming names all I will say is that I expect everyone to give me 100% at all times!! If that means you-re bolloxed after 60 mins then so be it, we-ve got subs for a reason - I WANT YOU ALL TO COME OF THE PITCH READY TO DROP!!

Now on the subject of subs! I like us all to meet at the rec at a certain time for a reason. Namely to give us plenty of time to travel & warm up; have a bit of banter along the way & get our -game heads- on! I understand that on occassions it works better for some of you to travel direct to away grounds & that-s cool - ASLONG AS YOU ARRIVE ON TIME!! People turning up late like they-re on a f**king jolly boys outing not only disrupts our preperation but also leads to stupid mistakes, like the one that potentially turned this game against us! I have to take responsibility for (accidentally)only naming 1 sub & this proved costly as Harry-s unfortunate ankle injury left us with on 10 men for the last half hour.

Every one of you dug in & gave a tremendous effort, now you really were playing for eachother as a team! We scored an equaliser when Jamie popped up to stear home from close range & for a while I really felt we might still win it!! You could feel the team spirit from the sidelines as you all rallied eachother - it was a really proud moment for me, probably the 1st time since the Travaux game we-ve all totally united for the cause!! I could hear each & everyone of you spurring eachother on & digging in - THAT-S HOW I WANT MY TEAMS TO PLAY!

Unfortunately we couldn-t hold out & a further 2 weak goals were conceded as we ran out of steam. Whilst it was gutting to see the points slip through our fingers, in some way it didn-t really matter as you showed today what you-re capable of. If we can take that 1st half football & 2nd half commitment on to the rest of the season we won-t go far wrong!!

Oh, by the way - guess who we-ve got this sat...................... Travaux away - time for another battle!!!!

Love Ivesy x